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Did Pierre Poutine hack NDP vote? - 2012-03-27

Was a Pierre Poutine-style attack behind the site slow-downs that embarrassed and disrupted the New Democratic Party leadership vote on Saturday? Today, the company running its online election – in which Thomas Mulcair was chosen as head of the Official Opposition – has revealed that a "malicious, massive, orchestrated attempt to thwart democracy" was behind the party's embarrassing voting website crashes this weekend, which some pundits viewed as a hit on the NDP's credibiliy.

"We deeply regret the inconvenience to NDP voters caused by this malicious, massive, orchestrated attempt to thwart democracy," said Susan Crutchlow, general manager of Scytl, the Spain-based company contracted to carry out the election. "The required organization and the demonstrated orchestration of the attack indicates that this was a deliberate effort to disrupt or negate the election by a knowledgeable person or group."

The NDP, which at first suggested the voting delays were merely caused by larger-than-expected turnout, acknowledged by mid-Saturday afternoon that an intentional attack was likely. That was proven today, as three suspected Internet Protocol (IP) addresses involved grew to thousands.